The present invention relates to a swinging door and to a hinge for supporting such a door in a door opening.
Heretofore, swinging doors for door openings have been known, including doors supported by gravity operated hinge mechanisms. Some of these doors have been made of a flexible material, but in a manner which has made them relatively difficult to manufacture and which has interfered with their durability.
For example, in one prior art door, two panels of pvc are sewn or glued together to form the door. Such a manufacturing approach is somewhat time consuming. In addition, doors constructed in the manner suffer from the drawback that the panels may separate during use. In some cases, a hinge receiving pocket has been provided at the upper end of such doors between the panels. Gravity operated hinges including a mounting bracket and a door supporting arm are used to support such doors with the arm being inserted into the pocket. However, to adjust the alignment of the door relative to the door framework, shims are used to shim the hinge mounting bracket for adjustment purposes. These shims are somewhat time consuming and difficult to install.
Prior art doors have also been provided with a seal at the peripheral edges of the doors. One form of seal is constructed by sandwiching a piece of rubber or other gasket material between an edge margin of the door and an overlying piece of flat aluminum stock. The sandwich is secured to the door such that the rubber abuts the door framework, the floor or an adjoining door for sealing purposes. Such seals lack durability. In addition, when a gravity operated hinge is used to support a door, the upper edge of the door rises as the door is pushed or pulled open. As a result, the use of rigid material such as aluminum in a seal is not suitable for the upper edges of such a door. That is, this material would tend to drag against and damage the upper door framework as the gravity operated hinge raises the door as it is opened.
Another approach to sealing such doors has involved the use of a cloth loop glued to the opposite sides of the door. This has proven less than optimum because of the tendency of such cloth seals to tear and pull free from the door during heavy use.
Therefore, a need exists for a mechanically simple, relatively lightweight, door assembly that is easy to install and remove.